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April 15, 2008

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“I’m sure there will be 100 versions. I know I’ll remember things different from just about anybody alive,” Rep. Tom Feeney says of his critical role in the 2000 presidential elections, during which he served as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

He was The Man, after all. Headed up the whole shebang. And with HBO’s new flick “Recount” about to be released, we thought we’d catch up with him.

“It’ll be fun to watch. There are things I know that happened during those 36 days that no one on the planet knows. ... There are all sorts of little stories I can tell,” he told us Friday.

One being that he had a brand-new press secretary on his hands. “Her first job was to select the leader of the free world,” he laughed. “In the first two hours, I got over 500 press requests and something like 250,000 e-mails and phone calls. Some people wanted to kill me,” he remembered.

“So, Diane Sawyer calls and says, ‘We need Congressman Feeney.’ Now, we had decided we weren’t going to do any individual interviews, because we couldn’t manage them all. And we wanted message discipline. ... So, Diane Sawyer gets on the line with this 22-year-old girl out of college — this is the first issue she’s ever dealt with — and says, ‘You don’t understand. This is Diane Sawyer. We need him on my show.’ And [Feeney’s press secretary] says, ‘You don’t understand. I work for Tom Feeney, and we’re not doing your show.’”

Feeney hadn’t seen an advance copy of “Recount” but advised, “If there’s a scene where I’m not wearing a tie, literally it’s because I came from Thanksgiving with my family in Panama City. So I roll in, no tie, very casual.” Aha.

More to the point, though: “I look for the remake to include Brad Pitt,” Feeney said. “I look forward to many movies to come — to see who can do the best Tom Feeney. I think there should be the Tom Feeney Awards! I hope not all the movies are serious. It’d be nice to have some comedies thrown in, ... but historical movies [are] a good place to start.”

Pols’ secret talent: Acting. Who knew?

Who: Tim Kaine, playing a harmonica; Paul Hodes, playing a senator (every representative’s dream, no?); Mike Castle, playing a bailiff; Jim Moran, innocently saying, “No, Senator. No, Senator. I don’t recall, Senator” as a witness; Fred Upton, declaring someone’s “under arrest!” Not to mention Tim Gunn, among others.What: The Arena Stage’s annual benefit. This year, the play is called “Play On!” and is about the fictitious Scranton Summer Olympics. When: Monday nightWhere: Crystal CityWhy: The goodness of their hearts. And: They’re hams.

Knee replacements ahead

While the newsfolk in town are at the Hilton Twin Towers listening to Mo Rocca and Veep Cheney do their little entertainment dance at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner, a slew of reps will be running breathlessly down a basketball court.

It’s time for the Home Court Charity Basketball Game fundraiser between Georgetown Law faculty and members of Congress.

So when you see these guys all hobbling around the Capitol on Thursday, you’ll know why.

Chuck Hagel, take note

Rising in the Amazon ranks: Doug Feith*, that widely respected neocon and former under secretary of Defense for policy, was spotted at Barnes & Noble in Bethesda, buying 10 copies of his own book, “War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism.”

* Denotes famous for D.C.

Dan, Dave and Tom: The trifecta

“I thought I looked like Don Juan, but my wife thinks I look more like Dave Obey.”

— Rep. Dan Lungren to Shenanigans via his press sec, about his new goateed look, which we’ve previously stated also resembles that of Tom Jones